


Shards of Ice

by Higuchimon



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Barians? Haven't decided yet, Diversity Writing Challenge, Firestarter Healer AU, Gen, Mashup of Zexal and Arc-V too, Zexal Week 2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24416605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higuchimon/pseuds/Higuchimon
Summary: Frostflame Kamishiro Rio has a new student, a girl freshly Frosted over. Teaching Rin won’t be easy, but someone has to do it.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Story:** Shards of Ice  
 **Characters:** Rio, Rin|| **Ship:** N/A  
 **Chapters:** One|| **Words:** 1,542}} **Total:** 1,542  
 **Genre:** Friendship|| **Rated:** G  
 **Challenges:** Diversity Writing, YGO Firestarters/Healers, I19, 1000-2000 wpc; ZexalWeek 2020, day #4, pick a character you feel didn’t get enough attention & give it to them  
 **Notes:** I feel Rio/Merag didn’t get nearly as much attention as she should/could have. Frankly, that’s a common thing in YGO. But I picked her and here we are. This is a Firestarter/Healer AU and will explore the branch of that concept I call “Frostflames”. It’s also an unholy mashup of Zexal and Arc-V. More will be shown in future chapters.  
 **Summary:** Frostflame Kamishiro Rio has a new student, a girl freshly Frosted over. Teaching Rin won’t be easy, but someone has to do it.

* * *

As soon as the door opened, Rio looked up. She’d expected company, since she’d been told her new “student” would be arriving today. She hadn’t expected to see a girl of about twelve being dragged over to her by three tall, burly Security officers. She had short apple-green hair and fierce eyes, and all three of her guards were covered in protective cold-weather gear. 

She’d expected that, too. After all, they’d come here to her place. No one who wasn’t a fellow Frostflame entered _her_ territory without being properly dressed. 

“Ma’am?” One of the guards nodded towards her, still keeping a firm grip on their prisoner’s arm. “This is the new Frostflame.” 

Of course. The thought of Security treating anyone, let alone someone from the Commons, like they were an actual human was laughable. For that matter, treating a nascent Frostflame like one. But Rio bent her head forward to acknowledge it. 

“And your name is?” She made certain to address the girl directly. She wasn’t Security. She would treat anyone like a person. 

The girl glared back at her out of fierce orange eyes. “I don’t need to answer your questions! I don’t need to be here! _Let me go_!” 

She slammed one foot down on her last words and ice crackled outward from where it hit. The guards leapt back, losing their grip on her arms. Rio only raised one eyebrow before glancing at the encroaching ice. At that look, the ice stopped at once. 

“You’re a Frostflame,” Rio told her. “You need to be here.” 

She turned her attention back to the guards. “You can go now. I’ll take care of her.” 

The guards didn’t wait another moment, scurrying out, whispering to one another as they did. Rio couldn’t quite hear them but she had a feeling on what they said – whispers about how _unnatural_ Frostflames were and other such insults she’d heard many times since the day her rage overflowed and her flames turned to ice. 

For now, she regarded the girl carefully. She stood there, arms wrapped around herself, eyes darting here and there before coming back to rest on Rio. 

“I want to go home,” she said, trying to sound assertive and sounding more as if she wanted to cry. “Yuugo’s going to get in trouble if I don’t.” 

“Who is Yuugo?” Rio asked, gesturing for the girl to join her. She didn’t move. Rio wasn’t surprised about that. 

“My best friend. Please, can’t I go home?” She tightened her grip around herself. “I’m not a Frostflame. I _can’t_ be one.” 

Rio tilted her head. “Why not?” She’d seen this before – in her own mirror. She’d taken a long time to get used to it. 

“Because I’m _not_! I’m a Firestarter!” She shook her head wildly. “Do you – do you know where they took Yuugo?” She seemed to realize in her next breath how foolish the question was. If Rio didn’t even know who Yuugo was, it was unlikely that she knew _where_ he was. 

Rio only looked at her, then pointedly brought her gaze down to where ice still clung to the nascent Frostflame’s shoes. “Most people slip on ice,” she pointed out. “Most people would be cold around me. Now, can you at least tell me your name?” 

Again the girl quivered, and this time her eyes dropped. “R-Rin. My name’s Rin.” Then her head jerked up. “Firestarters aren’t ever cold!” 

“You know that’s not true. It just takes more effort. A Frostflame’s ice can do it. And I _am_ a Frostflame.” Rio picked up her cup of tea and swirled it around, then pressed the flat of her hand against it. Little more than the flicker of her will, then she turned it to face Rin. 

Ice, all the way down. Rin closed her eyes and sank down onto the floor, more from probably not being able to stand than anything else. She said nothing, only stared down at the floor. 

“I am Kamishiro Rio.” Rio introduced herself. Rin’s eyes widened at her name. Oh, of course. Most people would recognize it. But she said nothing about it and Rio wasn’t going to bring it up. “What frosted you?” There really weren't that many Frostflames. Those who had the potential, found only in the highest levels of Firestarters, didn’t always experience something that would trigger the change. Rio vividly recalled her Frosting – she didn’t think that she would ever forget. 

Rin shook her head mutely. Rio decided to ask again later. If Rin wasn’t ready to face what she was, she wasn’t ready to answer. But soon enough. At least she hoped. A Frostflame who couldn’t control her power was a danger to everyone, including herself. 

Especially herself. 

* * *

Rio showed Rin to what would be her room. Her apartment wasn’t that big. She’d expected a student at some point, since the Guild made certain she had two bedrooms, even if one was a little small. One bathroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a room for training. Nothing out of the ordinary for someone in the Guild. 

Rio remembered living in her family’s mansion growing up. She’d had a lot more room then. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t visit there _now_ , or as if Ryouga couldn’t visit her. But it was – different. 

She settled back into the living room once she’d settled Rin into her new room. She hadn’t been there five minutes before her duel disk started to beep in a demanding manner. She snorted when she saw who it was, then answered. 

“Hello, brother.” 

Ryouga snorted. “What are you doing?” That was his way to saying hello. He didn’t often waste time with pleasantries. 

“I’ve just received a new student,” Rio told. She wasn’t much for them herself. “She’s in the spare room.” 

Her brother scowled at her. “Since when do you take students?” Then his eyes widened. “Is she-?” 

“She’s a Frostflame,” Rio agreed, before filling him in on the rest of it – how Rin refused to admit she was one, most of all. Ryouga nodded, then got down to the heart of his call. 

“I won’t be able to visit this weekend. Something came up.” He wrinkled his nose. “Guild business.” 

Of course. Her brother was First Flame, after all. He had a lot of business to take care of. She nodded. 

“I’ll be busy with her anyway. This could take a while.” Rio traced a finger down the duel disk. “She’s from Commons, too.” 

That got another wince from Ryouga. Then he scowled all over again. “Are you saying you can’t handle her?” 

“Don’t make me frost you,” Rio retorted. “I’m not going to have any problems with her that I can’t handle.” 

Ryouga grumbled a little at that before he bid farewell and ended the call. Rio set the disk down and moved on to more important matters – such as, did she have enough in the pantry for two people? 

* * *

Rin wrapped her arms around her knees and stared down at the floor. There wasn’t any ice there. She didn’t _want_ there to be ice there. She wanted the familiar, comfortable flames that burned inside of her for as long as she could remember. 

Only they weren’t there. All of them gone, replaced by the deepest, thickest, coldest ice that she’d ever encountered. She’d never even thought ice like this could exist in the first place. Yet, there it was. 

She had to get out of here. Yuugo needed her. The idiot would get himself hurt without her. 

He was probably already hurt. The last time she’d seen him – she shook her head. No. She wasn’t going to think about that. Not now. She’d trained herself for years to avoid thinking about anything that got her too emotional. Too much emotion could set things on fire. 

That wasn’t an issue anymore, though. 

She wished she couldn’t think about that. But regardless of how much she tried, no matter how she denied it, the ice existed inside of her, flowing out of her fingertips. And she was here, in a place of cold, with that person. Kamishiro Rio. 

Kamishiro – like Kamishiro Ryouga, the First Flame of Japan. Rin couldn’t count all the stories she’d heard about him and First Healer Tskumo Yuuma. She’d even heard a few about his twin sister – mostly horror stories. She’d always known that Rio was a Frostflame. But she’d never _known_ it until coming face to face with her. 

_She wants to teach me to be a Frostflame._ Rin bit her lip and drew in a breath. This wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted her fires back. She wanted Yuugo back. She wanted to be out of this place and back home. 

Unfortunately, she didn’t think she was going to get any of those. 

Slowly she stretched herself out on the bed and tried to close her eyes and get some rest. She was hungry; she hadn’t eaten since before she’d been caught and that had been – what, now? Three days. She’d been given a few meals, but the moment she tried to touch them, they’d all frosted over. Too cold and nasty to eat in seconds. 

Rin found herself hoping that Rio knew how to do something about _that_ at least. 

* * *

**To Be Continued**

**Notes:** So we begin another fic. I will endeavor to update once a week on Wednesday. We shall see if that happens.


	2. Chapter 2

**Story:** Shards of Ice  
 **Characters:** Rio, Rin|| **Ship:** N/A  
 **Chapters:** Two|| **Words:** 1,520|| **Total:** 3,062  
 **Genre:** Friendship|| **Rated:** G  
 **Challenges:** Diversity Writing, YGO Firestarters/Healers, I19, 1000-2000 wpc; ZexalWeek 2020, day #4, pick a character you feel didn’t get enough attention & give it to them  
 **Notes:** I feel Rio/Merag didn’t get nearly as much attention as she should/could have. Frankly, that’s a common thing in YGO. But I picked her and here we are. This is a Firestarter/Healer AU and will explore the branch of that concept I call “Frostflames”. It’s also an unholy mashup of Zexal and Arc-V. More will be shown in future chapters.  
 **Summary:** Frostflame Kamishiro Rio has a new student, a girl freshly Frosted over. Teaching Rin won’t be easy, but someone has to do it.

* * *

Rin stared a bit distrustfully at the food spread out between the two of them. She raised one hand, then dropped it again, her eyes not meeting Rio’s. 

“I can’t. I freeze things when I try to touch them,” she whispered. Her emotions ebbed and flowed between frozen depression and raging anger. 

“Then the first thing you need to learn is how not to do that,” Rio said. “It’s a necessary skill for a Frostflame.” 

Rin still didn’t look very thrilled about it. “How do I do it?” Her stomach rumbled even as she spoke. Rio suspected it wouldn’t take her long to get the knack of it. 

“Find the ice within yourself,” she instructed. “It’s there where the flames were. You can feel it inside. It’s a part of you, like your skin or your hair or you teeth – or your deck.” 

Rin grit her teeth, closed her eyes and her hands. Rio continued. “Find the ice. Understand it’s purpose within you – it’s like you the way your flames were.” 

Rin shivered. There weren’t many Frostflames who did that, at least not from the cold. But her teeth clenched even tighter and her nails dug into her palms and Rio could tell she was trying with every ounce of her strength. 

“When you have a grip on the ice inside, become aware of it. The ice does what you want it to do, not what it wants to die. Ice doesn’t have the same will that fire does, but it is stubborn and wants to go its own way. You are the ice. The ice is you. What's yours won’t harm you. Cannot harm you. You won’t allow it.” Rio kept her voice quiet and firm. She’d had to deal with this herself. So did every Frostflame. 

Slowly Rin worked at it. She reached for a piece of fish and hissed when it frosted over at her touch. Rio shook her head. 

“Try it again. Keep trying. You can’t stop training, not for a moment.” 

She tapped the ice on the fish and it shattered away. “You probably want to do this as soon as you can. Dinner won’t wait forever.” 

“You expect me to figure it out this soon?” Rin snapped, eyes flying open to glare at her. If Rio wasn’t a Frostflame herself, the way the temperature dropped might have been irritating. She reveled in the cold wind that rose instead. 

“Do you want to eat?” Rio asked instead. “It’s not about what I expect. It’s about what you need to be able to do. Try this instead – find your inner place. The part of you that’s always calm no matter what.” 

Almost every Firestarter had a place like that. Those that were bonded usually associated the peace with their Healer. Frostflames seldom bonded, however. There weren’t many Healers who could contain the ice and those who could were often Shadow Healers. With so many people who wanted to keep Healers from going Shadow in the first place, there were fewer Frostflames to bond and even fewer who could bond to them. 

Rin worried at her lip before she closed her eyes again and tried to find whatever it was that gave her peace. 

“Yuugo,” she murmured. “We’re working on our D-Wheel. He’s being stupid – he always is.” But there was a fondness to the way that she said it that said she liked that about him. “He thinks one of us can enter the Friendship Cup on our D-Wheel.” 

Ah. She’d heard about that. The famous Cup that supposedly brought equality between Tops and Commons. Rio didn’t believe it for a second. But she could understand the draw of the dream regardless. She said nothing that would bring Rin out of it. She needed to keep herself centered too much. 

Slowly, bit by bit and moment by moment, the chill around Rin begant to recede. It never faded; a Frostflame’s chill never faded. But it drew in enough so that she could pick up food and eat it. As soon as she realized that happening, Rin started to ravenously devour everything in front of her, clearing her plate down to the bottom in mere moments. 

“That was good,” she admitted afterwards. “Better than what we normally eat.” 

That wasn’t a surprise. Very few things were, in Rio’s opinion. She set the dishes aside and regarded her student thoughtfully. 

“So you and your friend want to take part in the Friendship Cup.” 

Rin nodded, a tiny blush filtering up her cheeks. “Yuugo might be better at it than I am. He’s really good at D-Wheeling.” 

“Have you ever tried it?” Rio wanted Rin to calm down. Tense Frostflames weren’t very good at learning. But ones who weren’t afraid of their own ice could learn _so_ much. 

Rin nodded. “I couldn’t really duel anyone since we only have one D-Wheel and no one else wants to spar against us.” 

“Do you still have your deck?” 

Rio wasn’t surprised when Rin shook her head. “They took that when they took me.” 

Of course they had. But Rio knew how to deal with that. “You want it back, don’t you?” 

“I do!” Rin declared at once, tiny trickles of ice flickering out from her fingertips. “It’s my _deck_!” 

Rio leaned forward and met orange eyes with her own. “Then you need to learn to control your ice flawlessly. If you can pass the test to prove that you’re under control, then Ryouga can reissue your deck to you.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“This City has a test for Frostflames. Prove you can pass that test and the First Flame can make sure you get your deck back.” 

Rin stared at her, a thousand comments ghosting behind her eyes. Rio couldn’t read them, but she understood them. She’d gone through the same thing herself. 

“How do I pass it?” Rin asked at last. “What do I have to do?” 

“Control your ice. Don’t let it control you.” Rio considered quietly for a few moments. “I can teach you that. It’s what you’re here for.” 

“Can I find Yuugo then?” 

Rio considered it carefully. “Was he arrested too?” Rin nodded, worrying at her lip again. “Are you two courting one another?” 

Rin’s gaze dropped down to the floor. “Not officially. We sort of _want_ to but we haven’t started yet.” 

Rio nodded carefully. “I can’t say that you’ll be able to see him again. But the odds are better if you’re trained and have passed the test.” Her fingers tapped on the table in thought. “Do you know what he was arrested for?” She knew what Rin had been arrested for – existing in public as a Commons _and_ a Frostflame. 

Rin watched her fingers twining about themselves. “I don’t know. He’s a Healer – a really strong one. But he never wanted anyone to know how strong he is.” 

That made a great deal more sense that Rio didn’t like. A few Healers were allowed to remain in Commons, mostly to help with communcal gardens and the like. That way they didn’t have to depend on the Tops for everything – at least that was what the official information was. Firestarters, of course, were there to help them. But if they possessed a certain degree of strength, then they were upgraded to the Tops area. 

If this Yuugo were strong enough to become one of the Tops Healers and he wasn’t a Shadow Healer, then there wasn’t any way that he’d legally be allowed to court or be courted by Rin. He would be bonded, likely through Bud’s Bond, to a Firestarter chosen by the higher-ups in the Guild, with “advice” from the City’s Council. There was a good chance that if Rin didn’t find a Shadow Healer, then she’d probably be force-bonded to one of the few that the Council kept on their register. 

Or she might be bonded to one of their Healer Cats. Rio shuddered just at the thought of that. Her distaste for ordinary cats stretched out to Fire Cats and Healer Cats as well. She knew they were intelligent and except for physical form like humans. It didn’t matter. She wanted nothing to do with any Cats. 

Regardless, Rin’s future wasn’t nearly as rosy as she hoped it might be. Though there were other options – options that she couldn’t know about yet. 

“If you want to pass that test, then it’s time for your lessons to properly begin,” Rio said, rising to her feet and gathering the dishes. “Follow me.” 

Once she set the dishes in the sink, she headed over to the training room. All four walls, the floor and the ceiling, were coated in ice inches thick and slippery. At least slippery to non-Frostflames. Rin looked around, jaw dropping. 

“You did this?” 

“I did. This is our training room. We’re going to spend a lot of time here until you get fully trained. That could take anywhere from weeks to months. It all depends on you.” Rio strolled to the center of the room, gesturing Rin to the far side. “Now, are you ready to get started?” 

* * *

**To Be Continued**

**Notes:** As of August 5, 2020, this story is on indefinite hiatus. I intended to restart in September, but YGO GX Month came up and it gave me ideas. So, once that’s taken care of, I’ll return to my WIPs.


End file.
